Status Quo prevails

The presidential and congressional elections largely maintained the status quo in D.C. Republicans kept a majority in the House and, although Mitt Romney won much of the Midwest easily, congressional elections in those same states allowed Democrats to maintain control of the Senate.

The farm bill, and the House's failure to pass it, was an oft-referenced issue by Democrats in the congressional races, especially in Midwestern states, said Patrick Westhoff, director of the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute at the University of Missouri.